The immense marketing power of Facebook is catching on as increasing numbers of salon owners redirect their time and budget, previously earmarked for offline marketing campaigns or sophisticated websites, to this thriving, pulsating hub of activity. But as with all effective marketing, the more you know about your campaigns, the better placed you are to develop the next. The great news is, it’s easy to monitor and measure the success of your Facebook page. And, it’s free!

Sitting behind your Facebook page, and visible only to you if Facebook Insights, a range of analytical tools that reveals instantly whether a page is thriving or underperforming. There are a lot of numbers to understand, and we are going to cover these over the new few blogs in my series—looking in-depth at each section to not only understand what the numbers are, but what they mean for your page. To start, I’m going to familiarize you with what Insights has to offer.

Keep in mind it’s not available to profile pages so if you are still directing clients to become your friend, now is the time to launch a business page. If you’re unsure what this means, CLICK HERE to review this blog from Linkup Marketing to ensure you are setup on Facebook correctly.

To access Insights, find the purple icon either underneath the pictures of all your administrators on the right-hand side or underneath your page image.

Insights is undergoing an update at the moment, so you need to ensure that you are viewing the latest version of Insights, so click the link that says, ‘Take me to the new Insights.’ Click through and you’ll see an array of different categories, each as wonderful as the next. So let’s start there:

General Stats: The first screen you see is an overview screen, which includes the key measurement (metrics) that Facebook considers the most important. Focus on improving these numbers and you Facebook marketing experience will be much better.

This section focuses on performance and includes a useful graph showing the key metrics over the previous 30 days. It also shows your posts during that same time period with some key stats about which engaged users, had the most reach, got people talking about it or virality. I’ll give you more on these numbers, and some tips on increasing your engagement in my next blog.

Fans: This screen is exactly what you think it is—all about your fans. These are basic demographics, but one thing that always throws people off is where your fans are from. Most people think they must be from the surrounding area, but think again. Man a salon has been surprised to find only half of the people they are talking to on Facebook are capable of setting foot in their salon. Monitoring these numbers is key.

Reach: This section is about how far your messages on Facebook are making it in terms of exposure. The larger your reach, the more people have been exposed to your message in either the newsfeed, the ticker or on their friends wall, etc. This section is really vital for understanding how many people your information is reaching. Contrary to popular belief, your updates are not seen by every person that has liked your page, so knowing who your messages are reaching is key to continued success.

Talking About This: This is a relatively new section, which also comes with a public stat on your homepage. You’ve probably seen this by now. This section is all about who has created a story about your page or one of your stories. Why is this important? Because this is the new word of mouth and you should be tracking it.

Over the next few months, we’ll be covering each section in detail to give you some insight into each number, why you should care and what to do about it. Make sure to rate this story and leave your comments and questions below.

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About the Author:

Valorie Reavis

Valorie Reavis is an online and social media marketing guru with Linkup Marketing, which focuses on search engine marketing, salon email marketing programs and social media marketing for salons and spas.